Thanks, Marc...

Bought some groceries Sunday morning - last day of trading for the village shop run by Marc Massey.

As well as what we needed on a week-end like OJ, eggs and croissants, and the essentials like kitchen rolls, tea, and tins of soup, Masseys has been good for a whole range of other things, including cheeses, veggie boxes, panettone and carrot cake. And the village shop has over the years hosted wine-tasting, carol-singing, cake-stalls, and village competitions.A tough act to follow...in a tough economic climate for small retailers.

It's a house for sale, Jim, but not as we know it...

One of the houses on The Lawn, Whittlesford, is up for sale (see pic) and this has caused some surprise as this house is one of a cluster that form part of the council-owned sheltered housing scheme in the village.

The explanation is that South Cambs operates a scheme -as do many other local authorities - known as "Equity Share" for the elderly whereby people aged 60 or more who are homeowners or have sufficient capital can purchase a 75% share in a sheltered bungalow or flat.

If later on the equity shareowner wants to sell then they have to assign the lease to a qualifying person. The Council has first dibs in that it can nominate a purchaser from its housing register for the owner to assign the lease to. If the Council is unable to nominate someone then the owner has to find their own purchaser (hence the for sale sign). But the buyer is only buying the equity share, and not the freehold of the property, so this is not about houses going out from the council pool of sheltered accommodation. More details on the South Cambs website

Praise for South Cambs at Thriplow Parish AGM

At least one of the days of the Thriplow Daffodil week-end was reasonably sunny. Saturday was anything but...

Thursday before saw a reasonable turn-out for the Thriplow Parish Council AGM.

Putting aside the debate between residents over the accuracy of the village information signs (apparently mentioning a street that last existed in 1903) there was praise from all sides for South Cambs in the way that its environmental team had handled the issue of noise/anti-social behaviour outside the village hall, and for the good work on a transport strategy worked up by the new communities team to overcome the gaps that might be left in the bus services as a result of the county council's reduction of the subsidies paid to the bus operators. I'm trying to secure a grant from the council for the improvements to the village recreation ground - not easy as although it is a very solid proposal, times are hard. We'll see - there is a meeting to decide grants next week at south cambs where, like a true boy-scout, I'll do my best.

solar farms - not quite so much subsidy

The proposal for a solar farm on fields between Thriplow and Whittlesford may not be built after all. The subsidy for solar power that made these schemes viable is being quickly reviewed by the government, and could mean the feed-in tariff rate paid per kilowatt (over a 25 year period, guaranteed) cut from over 30 pence to 8 pence for large schemes of over 5 megawatts.

This means that household and school/village hall solar panel installations will still get a good rate of return, but the schemes for 250 or so panels in a field will not. I think this is a good move, and I was on the very listenable andy harper show on radio cambridgeshire yesterday morning to say why. This will take the edge of a market that was in danger of rapidly over-heating (no pun intended).

But watch this space for government plans to make putting up with wind turbines more attractive, by giving the business rate paid by the turbine company to the local community. No easy answers on energy at the moment.

Reducing emissions from the Pet Crem at Thriplow Heath on the A505

The Pet Crem by the side of the A505 at Thriplow Heath has secured planning permission to introduce new technology that will reduce emissions and fuel consumption, rebuild the chimney and also provide a purpose built air quality monitoring platform.

I'm grateful to the science officers within the district's environmental services team for taking me through the proposals.

Scrapyard at Station Road, Whittlesford

As I reported to Whittlesford Parish Council on Tuesday, after a meeting with the planning officers at South Cambs, the district council has now written to the owners of the scrapyard site setting out the council's view as to what business activity the site has planning permission for, and what it has not.

The owners have 28 days to reply. I've written to the people in Station Road who contacted me giving them more detail. As can be seen from the aerial pic, there is a good deal of light industry in and around Station Road, co-existing with the station and its commuter traffic, and the Station Road residents themselves.

A patchwork of transport services for South Cambs

To a meeting today attended by local district and county councillors as well as parish representatives about the bus service reductions that the county council will trigger by withdrawal of its subsidies.

It was good to see our local "industry" present, aka the Duxford Air Museum in attendance in the form of its director, no less. So a bit of Big Society thinking going on here.

For information, the C7 bus serving Whittlesford and Heathfield will be reducing its frequency but good news, changes to its route should improve its punctuality. Click for the Stagecoach information.

Tim Stone chaired the meeting and the debate ranged far and wide, but the upshot of it is that there needs to be three "layers" of public transport going forward:
1. The commercial services such as the C7;
2. The semi-community funded, feeding in to the commercial hubs;
3. The community and dial-a-ride schemes that a lot of parishes are supporting.

The colourful chart shows community car schemes - as mapped by the district council officers. Interestingly there isn't a lot of coverage in the Thriplow, Duxford, Whittlesford, Sawston area, which may be because of the good transport links and the good local services such as the surgery at Sawston. Next step is to be clear where the cuts will be made, and do a gap analysis to see what should fill it - and be realistic about what can and cannot be done to replace the millions of pounds of subsidies.

Scrapyard at Station Road Whittlesford and a much needed piece of cake

Went to see the planners and other officers at South Cambs - it makes sense to have a bundle of things to go through each time. Caught up on:
- the position re affordable homes and the council's "waiting list"
- the complex planning history to the scrapyard site (see pic left) at Station Road, Whittlesford, which comes under discussion at the Parish Council this evening. The scrapyard owners have also applied to the Traffic Commissioners for an HGV licence;
- the environmental/emissions improvements that go with replacing the old chimney at the pet crem. on the A505 ouside Thriplow;
- a planning/conservation issue which has a long history, and required the long memories and big files of the planning officers, and after which I needed a piece of the banana, date and cherry cake currently on sale at South Cambs and which certainly sticks to your ribs!

Formula 1 testing back at Duxford - 27th April

Just got notice that Team Lotus will be holding a single full day of testing on 27 April. This is a different team than Renault who were doing the testing two years ago - this is me asking questions of the test manager at the time.
Under the terms of the testing agreement which South Cambs District Council brokered, the test car is entitled to operate between 0800 and 1800 hours, with a break in the middle of day.
Have to see how it goes - it will certainly boost visitor numbers to the museum.